I quite like the feel of it yet, and it'll fit in my bag quite well, but I haven't started reading it yet.Interzone arrived on the same day in a seperate envelope, I thought they were to be bundled together to save on postage?

Finished reading it and I've come completely around to the new format - it handles very well.

Enjoyed the columns as usual, and the reviews.

As for the fiction:

"Sunshine" - Nina Allen: very much enjoyed this. Subtle, somehow horrific in quite a sly way, and it cunningly invented its own mythos without over-explanation.

"Horseman" - Renee Carter Hall: didn't buy into this piece at all. Didn't feel that original and couldn't suspend my disbelief at the main character's acceptance of the situation. Not real enough for me.

"Chodpa" - Baph Tripp: again, I struggled with this. I felt it tried too hard to be different, when actually, it wasn't. To be honest, this is the first Black Static story I've found myself skipping...

"Shark! Shark!" - Ray Cluley: Nothing short of brilliant! Loved the self-referential, film-referential style which was pitched perfectly. And as posted earlier, the audacity to conclude it with 'fin' summed up the playfulness for me. My favourite story this year.

"The Counterweight" - Tim Lees: Enjoyed this story of a psychic vampire although not sure if it brought much new to the subject. Well told, however.

Ultimately a mixed issue for me, but the standout stories (Nina and Ray) were worth the cover price alone.

Also still waiting for my copy down under... I assume that Australia Post is checking it thoroughly to ensure that it doesn't contain any subversive stories about cane toads that support same-sex marriage and euthanasia before forwarding it on.

I've been trying to find out what might've happened to Canadian, Australian copies, now at least two weeks overdue. This is the response I received today:

"We have checked and there does not seems to be any problems our side, as you know we can't track it, probably a local postal problem in them countries."

It seems unlikely to me that Canada and Australia would experience the same problems at the same time, but there you go. I'm afraid this is the sort of response I've always received whenever there's been a problem, no matter which postal company I've used. It's the DHL school of customer service. "Not our fault. Not our responsibility."

Not much more I can do except hope that they turn up soon. If they don't, we'll have to assume them lost and I'll send replacement copies.

It's been my experience since relocating to Australia that the timeline for mail sent to or received from overseas is extremely unreliable here. But things aren't ALWAYS slow in showing up, and I had hoped that this issue of Black Static would avoid the curse... I'll be sure to let y'all know as soon as it manifests in my mailbox.

Another great issue, although I couldn't get a feel for Chodpa at all... I really liked Horseman however!As for the new format I think it was a good call. By the time you finish reading the magazine you won't even remember the old format..lol Sits nicely on the shelf too..

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